This invention relates generally to fabrication of footwear, more specifically athletic shoes, and particularly pertains to the application of cellular insert means within the structure of the sole for these types of shoes and which effectively resists the transmission of the forces of impact encountered by the footwear and its wearer during application.
In participation within sporting events, such as court events like tennis and basketball or in sports such as, football, track, or while partaking in various running events, such as jogging, or the like, or even in the customary application of footwear, as for daily or casual usage, frequently the footwear wearers will encounter the strain and ordeal of sustained pressure or the encountering of impacting forces, particularly during participation in the identified athletic type events, and which exposure does have a tendency to cause injury and damage to the particpant. Anyone who has been active in the sport of basketball, as an example, can readily understand the stress endured from what has been identified as a stone bruise, normally which apparently comprises the bruising to the flesh surrounding the lower oscalcis, or heel bone, and which normally occurs from the repeated jumping undertaken by a participant in such an athletic event. In addition, there are a variety of other types of normally muscle stressing and bruising impairments sustained by the athlete, or even those that do an abundance of walking, or perhaps even sustained by lengthy standing, which ordinarily occurs because of the direct impact of force encountered when the footwear worn by such people abruptly contact the ground, as during shoe usage. As a result, there has been given a significant amount of thought to modifications to shoe structures, particularly the sole component, of footwear, and more specifically athletic shoes, in an effort to combat that type of damage sustained by the foot generally during activity undertaken through athletic shoe usage. For example, one such modification to the sole of a sports shoe can be seen in Bente, U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,810, wherein elastically flexible material is inserted within the heel wedge portion of an athletic shoe in order to dampen the vibrations and shock occurring which running, especially upon a hard track. But, in this particular instance, the method for alleviating those problems apparently includes the insertion of various bar shaped support members into apertures provided within the urethane formed sole for the therein disclosed athletic shoes. Other means for alleviating these particular problems is to simply provide a series of apertures within the shoe sole, such as shown in the exercising device formed as an attachment to the sole of a shoe as disclosed in Ruskin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,646. Another concept for alleviating the forces encountered by the athlete during usage of the sports shoe, and which is similar to that explained in the aforesaid Ruskin patent, is the provision of a series of arch like apertures arranged within at least the heel portion of such a shoe, as disclosed in Inohara, U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,326.
Stil further methods have been employed for attempting to cushion the foot against impacting forces, and many such developments have been of rather complex structure, such as by vertically arranging modules of a plurality of cushioning structures which have a tendency to spread out the forces of impact before they are transmitted to the foot of the athlete. Such is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,864 to Lipfert.
Yet other methods for attempting to resolve the transmission of impacting forces to the foot of the athlete include fabricating the overall sole of the athletic shoe with different forms or densities of material, as by putting a more denser material at the vicinity of the heel portion of the shoe, while arranging more softer textured material at the midsole or front of the shoe sole. Such is shown in Bates, U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,189.
There are a large variety of other designs that have been built into footwear, and more specifially athletic shoes, and which relate to the foregoing, such as shown in Giese, U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,332, in addition to his other U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,335. The patent to Gross, one of the inventors herein, U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,072, shows an air circulation material constructed into the proximate sole portion for the shown shoe. In addition, insulated insole construction is disclosed in another Giese, U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,532. The addition of stabilizer means to the rear sole portions of an athletic shoe are shown in Turner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,188. A shoe outsole upon an athletic shoe is disclosed in Skaja, U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,878. A sports shoe sole having voids therein primarily to prevent slippage, is disclosed in Inohara, U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,181. A sports shoe sole having included ribs for cushioning purposes are disclosed in Inohara, U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,194. A related type of midsole insert and which includes shaped apertures for cushioning purposes is generally disclosed in Inohara, U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,892. Another Inohara patent pertaining to a sports shoe sole structure is shown in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,891. Air-flow characteristics built into the sole structure of a shoe is disclosed in Batra, U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,371. Likewise, providing apertures within the sole, also for shock absorbing purposes, is disclosed in Famolare, U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,321.
The build up of structures within the sole component, as previously explained with respect to the Lipfert patent, has been further modified within related types of elastic sole formations, such as shown in Lutz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,048. Incorporation of related types of integral spring systems within a shoe sole is disclosed in Weisz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,648. Raised apertures provided within an outsole portion for a shoe are disclosed in Batra, U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,357. And, another form of sole body for footwear providing more compressibility within its heel structure is disclosed in Hagg, U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,433. Likewise, a biomechanical shoe structure, that is intended to reduce the likelihood of injury or deterioration to the human foot, is shown in Selner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,620. Elastic shoe sole fabrication particularly for a sandal, disclosing a series of stud like structures, intermediate a pair of spaced sole members is disclosed in Giaccaglia, U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,185. The Israel patent No. 2,721,400, discloses a cushioned shoe sole. Related type of structure is shown in Hall, U.S. Pat. No. 2,437,227. The provision of apertures and studs located in or extending downwardly from the sole of an athletic shoe is disclosed in Brooks, U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,899. And, foot cushioning device, apparently for an application to the heel of the shoe, before it is structured into footwear, is disclosed in Davidson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,826.
The location of a spring means within the heel structure of an athletic shoe is disclosed in McMahon, U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,158. The Saarista, U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,061, discloses vertical apertures provided within an insole insert, proximate the heel portion for disclosed shoe structure. An article of footwear incorporating various suction cups upon the bottom of its sole, apparently also for cushioning purposes, is disclosed in Semon, U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,878. Substantial voids provided within the bottom of a shoe sole, for skid preventing purposes, is disclosed in the footwear patent to Gardner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,340. A running sole of flexible synthetic material for a sports shoe, of the type that forms rather diamond shaped grid work of cross bars, apparently for slip resistant purposes, is disclosed in Dassler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,713. The provision of a hollow interior for the sole of the footwear, for cushioning purposes, is disclosed in Fukuoka, U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,215. Inclusion of additional cavities within a shoe sole are shown in Cohen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,456, in addition to Plagenhoef, U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,026. Similar type of cavities formed within a shoe sole are disclosed in Rudy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,606. The Berend patent discloses an inflatible shoe, for cushioning purposes, as shown in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,854. Other types of cushioning means for shoe soles include the pneumatic style as disclosed in Moore, U.S. Pat. No. 508,034, and Guy, U.S. Pat. No. 1,069,001. And, Cooney, U.S. Pat. No. 1,506,975, discloses a similar type of sole structure. Schaffer, U.S. Pat. No. 1,942,883, shows a related type of pneumatic shoe. A corrugated sole and heel tread for shoes is disclosed in Hack, U.S. Pat. No. 2,627,676. Fluid filled inner soles are disclosed in Richmond, U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,117, while an air enclosed cavity for a shoe sole is shown in Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,069.
Thus, as the foregoing indicates, there are a voluminous number of shoe and sole structures designed principally for the provision of cushioning for the shoe, to protect the foot, as during the footwear application. On the other hand, as can be seen from the herein described invention, the concept of incorporating a cellular insert, generally formed of a woven or wound polymeric material, wherein the woven or helical wound cellular component is embedded within particular locations of the sole structure, and generally having its internal cavities filled with either the same or other textured polyurethane or other polymer foam that forms the shoe sole has apparently just never been revealed in the prior art.
It is, therefore, the principal object of this invention to add a cellular insert into the construction of a generally foam formed sole for footwear, and more specifically an athletic shoe, for the purpose of resisting and dampening the transmission of the forces of impact from the ground, through the shoe sole, and to the foot of its wearer.
Another significant object of this invention is to furnish the athlete with means for attaining energy efficiency and conservation by emedding within the shoe sole the insert of this invention for providing sustained rebound capacity resulting in greater energy return with each foot stride, therefore reducing foot fatigue, as well as actually reducing the energy necessary to run at a given pace.
A further object of this invention is to provide a cellular coil system that is embedded at particular locations within the shoe sole, and which is predetermined and designed for resisting specific directional forces of impact encountered by the shoe during usage by the athlete or other person.
Another object of this invention is to design into the construction of the sole of an athletic or other shoe preferably a woven polymer cellular insert that adds multi-dimensioned densities to the shoe sole construction and which effectively resist forces of impact.
An object of this invention is to embed the cellular insert of this development into a walking shoe.
More specifically, another object of this invention is to provide for the integral incorporation of a cellular woven or spirally wound fabric into precise locations for various styles of shoes in order to resist the forces of impact that may be encountered by select shoes during participation within specific athletic endeavors, such as athletic shoes that may be used during basketball, to resist the directly downward forces of impact, or perhaps in running shoes, wherein the main thrust of force is encountered upon the heel portion of its shaped sole.
These and other objects will become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the summary of this invention, and upon undertaking a study of the description of its preferred embodiment, in view of the drawings.